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English Premier League Monthly Roundup: September 2016

It was another truly spectacular month in England’s top flight with plenty of big moments, talking points and big names hitting the spotlight. This is the monthly roundup for September in the Barclays Premier League.

Manager of the Month: Jurgen Klopp

Club of the Month: Liverpool

117. James Milner

Liverpool look so good under Jurgen Klopp right now and everything he’s doing is working. The players are all buying into what he’s selling and are showing it on the pitch, working together as a collective unit to win every game. The Reds won all three of their matches this month and put up some massive results. They beat the Champions Leicester City by a score of 4-1, then beat title contenders Chelsea 2-1 and finally smashed Hull into the ground with a 5-1 win. With Coutinho, Mane, Henderson and Lallana all firing on all cylinders at the moment, nobody can stop them.

Ahmed Elmohamady – The likes of Coutinho and Iwobi ran circles around him as Hull City conceded 10 goals in 3 matches. He also received a red card and won only 46% of his duels.

Gary Cahill – A non-factor in Chelsea’s defense as the Blues conceded 7 goals this month. He also made 2 defensive errors that directly led to goals.

David Luiz – Replaced John Terry in the side after arriving back at Chelsea from PSG and forgot how to defend as the Blues conceded 7 goals in 3 matches. The Brazilian also only won 43% of his duels.

Andrew Robertson – Didn’t do anything in 3 matches this month for Hull as they conceded 10 goals. He also only won 46% of his duels and was tormented by the likes of Mane, Sanchez and Walcott.

Daniel Amartey – Not a central midfielder and never will be. Leicester should hope that Nampalys Mendy becomes fit again soon! He only won a shocking 32% of his duels including just 1 successful tackle the entire month and was a massive reason why Leicester conceded 9 goals this month.

Marten de Roon – Middlesbrough have been a bit shocking this month and perhaps the Dutchman deserves a lot of credit for his as before he came into the side they were doing just fine. Central midfielders who don’t know how to defend are never a good thing. Out of 27 tackles attempted, he was only successful with six of them. That shocking statistic contributed massively to his even worse statistic of only 23% of his duels won this month.

Gaston Ramirez – Another Middlesbrough player who has had a shockingly bad month. Ramirez has been so bad that he is beginning to be dropped to the bench for his team. The Uruguyan was amazing on opening day but since hasn’t managed to develop any kind of rhythm at all with his teammates and has helped Boro to three straight defeats this month. Just 34% of his duels won this month, including just 3 successful tackles out of 12 attempted. Apart from those three tackles, he only made 1 defensive action the entire month.

Adnan Januzaj – The Manchester United player on loan at Sunderland continues to be one of the worst performers of the 2016-17 season and at the moment can’t seem to do anything right. He like many others on this list only won 1 tackle this month on his way to a below-par 40% duels won and 68% passes completed. It would be miraculous if he managed to turn things around at Sunderland but at the moment he looks like one of the worst signings of the summer.

Simone Zaza – Has been dreadful since arriving from Juventus and could soon be the laughing stock of the town. He hasn’t even come close to scoring as West Ham continue to struggle to get anything good going. Zaza hasn’t had a single shot on target since arriving from Serie A and made just 1 successful tackle in September.

Alvaro Negredo – Disappointing fantasy managers worldwide, Alvaro Negredo did not score or assist a single goal in the month of September as Middlesbrough crashed to four defeats from four matches. He was also dreadful in possession of the football and didn’t do anything of the note to help Boro win any match. Negredo was good on opening day but has since fallen off the pace and has now been dropped out of the side. Get ready for these shocking statistics: 58% pass accuracy, 25% shot accuracy and 44% of his duels won in the month of September. Shockingly bad.

Game of the Month: Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City

Both of the Manchester derbies of last season were lifeless and dull but this one was as fantastic as expected. Both teams had a lot to lose, coming into this match both with perfect records and both teams did everything they could to win the match, albeit City much more successfully than United. But the pace of the match was incredible as every single player was full of energy and non-stop running all game long. Guardiola had a tactical masterclass as well with what he did with De Bruyne and Silva which was incredible to watch. Every single player who stepped on to the pitch had some kind of impact on the match whether positive or negative and it was a brilliant encounter.

Goal of the Month: Juan Mata 2-0 Leicester City (Manchester United 4-1 Leicester)

Top 200 Footballers Rising Stars

Adam Lallana has had an incredible month. It all started with England’s narrow 1-0 win against Slovakia in which he scored the only goal of the game. It then took off from there as he scored against Leicester and then against Hull City along with 2 assists to claim the Player of the Week award and climb all the way up inside the top 130. If he continues this trajectory, he’ll be on his way inside the top 100 soon.

Sadio Mane meanwhile is the biggest riser inside of the top 100 as he climbs all the way up to 74 after stunning performances against Leicester and Hull.

Number on top = September 30, 2016Number on bottom = August 31, 2016

Both Fernandinho and Nicholas Otamendi continue to flourish under Pep Guardiola, particularly the former who is really beginning to bloom as a defensive midfielder.

Heung-Min Son had an incredible month after knocking Erik Lamela out of Maurio Pochettino’s setup and scored more goals this month (4) than he managed in all of 2015-16, as a result he has risen back up the ranks. Kyle Walker meanwhile continues to establish himself as one of the best right-backs in the league. Although he only made the substitutes in bench in The Mastermind‘s Team of the Month, he is certainly catching the eye and developing into an excellent defender.

Top 200 Footballers Falling Angels

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is the biggest dropper inside the top 100 as he continues to struggle into life at Manchester United. Ross Barkley meanwhile drops more than anyone inside the top 200, dropping 29 places after disappointing performances in all three of Everton’s matches this month.

Gary Cahill and David Luiz have both shown how important John Terry is to Chelsea’s defence after the two of them put in several shocking displays this month. At the end of August Gary Cahill found himself on the list after Antonio Conte’s positive start as Chelsea manager while David Luiz was still known as one of the best defenders that Ligue 1 had to offer. However, this month they have both shown exactly how bad they truly are at defending.

Conclusion

Well it’s been another amazing and incredibly entertaining month in the Barclays Premier League. All three team of the week’s were nearly impossible to select and that’s the way The Mastermind likes it. October should be no different. See you next month for another monthly roundup, team of the month and more. Bye for now!